Promotion Pictures

Introvert

This deployment has given me a chance to see the extent to which I am an introvert. Many people have a mistaken notion of what it means to be an introvert and often put a negative connotation with the word introvert. They associate with someone who is anti-social; however, the merriam-webster definition of introvert is, “to turn inward or in upon itself as a: to concentrate or direct upon oneself.” Whereas a person who is extroverted is rejuvenated through interaction with other people, an introvert is drained by being around many people and re-energized by more solitary activities. That is not to say that an extrovert cannot enjoy time alone and an introvert does not enjoy interaction with others, but there is a inherit need for each person to re-energize in some form or fashion.

I bring all of this up because I have realized me need for time away from others this deployment. Whereas I originally didn’t want to take a couple extra hours off from work each week, after moving to my new office location where I am surrounded by people each day and the extent to which I have to interact with various other people on a daily basis, I’ve found the morning off once a week to be a huge blessing. Today is the second morning off that I’ve taken, with the first being two weeks ago. After my first morning off two Soldiers I work with mentioned to me that I was glowing. My co-workers frequently made that exact same comment about me last deployment the day after I’d taken some time off from work. Not only am I internally re-energized, it amazes me that there is also such a significant change in my appearance after spending a few hours alone.

I’ve set a few guidelines for myself on my time off. Spend some time in prayer and Bible study, no baking, no violin practice for church, get plenty of sleep, avoid crowds as much as possible, try and avoid unnecessary interaction with others, and spend the majority of the time lying in bed. Though I love serving other people and trying to make their lives more enjoyable, I cannot serve them best if I am a grumpy, overly-tired grouch.

This deployment I’ve also made new friends inside and outside of work; however, as my work hours increase my ability to spend time conversing and exchanging emails with my friends has significantly decreased. Though I really enjoy my new friends, I unfortunately have exhausted all of my mental and emotional reserves by the end of the day and have next to nothing left for further interaction, conversation, and sharing of thoughts with my friends. I hope that this changes sometime so that I can once again look forward to conversing with my friends on topics other than work related issues.

Time Off

I'm finally doing it...I'm taking four hours off tomorrow morning.  This week I began to notice that I was becoming very gloomy, depressed and felt burnt out.  The last time I had a quasi-day off was in mid-late April when I was up in Taji doing equipment inventories.  The last day I was up there all of the inventories were complete and so it was almost like a day off before we had to fly back to Falcon.  Both yesterday and today I noticed that even though I've been getting plenty of sleep my body felt the same as it does after I've been awake for 36 hours.  This afternoon I decided to finally make the decision to take some time off, and while I was walking back to my room tonight I realized just how much I do need to take a break.  I was walking down a road that has 20ft tall concrete barriers running parrallel to it and at one point, though I'm not sure how I managed to do it, but I ran into the barriers and fell down.  Thankfully it was dark out and I don't think anybody saw me fall, but if anyone did see me I'm sure they spent the rest of the night laughing at the LT who ran into a barrier and fell down because she was walking next to it. I had a good laugh at myself after I picked myself off the ground.   

5 Miles :)

Today I ran 5 miles faster than I ever have before: 40:12.  I cheated a bit because it was on a treadmill and the incline was at 0%.  The first 5 min were at a 9:14 pace at 0.5% incline.  Then I went up to 8min/mile pace at 0.5% incline for another mile or so  before going down to 0% incline and going up to a 7:54 min/mile pace, and then increased the pace for last 0.5 mile up to 7:30 min/mile pace and then up a bit more for the last quarter mile.  I left the gym quite happy :)

Work...Sleep...Run

I suppose it's been a while since I have written anything, though Heidi is still winning the lack-of-new-post contest.  Not a whole lot is new here, save for that I have a new job since the last time I posted on here.  Work keeps me rather busy and most of my time is spent dealing with detainees, though not in person.  I try and shoot for about a 13.5 hour work day (not including PT), I'm very happy if it is only a 12.5 hour work-day, but don't sweat it if it is 14-15 hours. The only downside of the longer work days is that I have less motivation to get up at 6am the next morning to go for a run. Soon I'll have to start running even earlier since it's starting to get hot by 6am now.  Before, it didn't really start to heat up outside until 7am. 

 

I've found that if I don't run in the morning I have no energy that day.  Even with that knowledge it is still very hard for me to pull myself out of bed a lot of mornings.  The past month I've averaged 17 miles a week, though my goal is to average at least 20 miles.  Some mornings, in order to motivate myself to get up, I make a deal with myself that if I get up and run early I can go back to bed after my shower until 8am.  The plan sometimes backfires on me though, like this morning.  I planned to run 5 miles, but had a really hard time getting up and so I made the deal again.  The problem was that I got up later than usual and I knew that I wouldn't have much time to sleep, so I ended up only running two miles on the treadmill so that I would at least run 17 this week...and then went back to bed. 

 

There are also many days that I think about how eventually I'm going to be able to take leave, and that going to bed and sleeping for an incredibly long time sounds wonderful.  I'm not sure why I'm so tired because I do get plenty of sleep, and if I don't get enough sleep it's my own doing...such as right now. 

 

We're supposedly allowed to take 4 hours off a week (come in late or leave early), but I have yet to see anyone do that.  Some days I may take a bit of a longer lunch, or like today, go visit a friend for two hours because I needed to talk to someone and get my mind off of things, but even then I feel like I'm slacking because I'm gone for so long.  There are occasional days that I'll come in late or other people will come in late, but it's always because we had to stay really late or were called back in to work the night before.  On the upside, right now the weeks are moving very fast.  I can't believe it's already Sunday again. 

 

Time to get some sleep.  Good night.

 

 

Grieving

My heart aches for his wife, daughter, and Jon. Though I didn't know him very well, I do know that Tim was truly a man after God's own heart. The world lost one of it's best.  You're in my prayers.

HACKED!!

The two recent posts about shoes were not from me.  My blog has apparently been hacked.

 

-The real Shibidie

28 March 08

Last night around 2300 I was going outside to brush my teeth and just as I stepped outside I heard a whistling overhead and then a small boom. Right after the boom a guy came running out of the darkness yelling "ROCKET!" as he ran past me inside. Since he was running I followed him running inside. There was one more faint boom after the that, but it turns out that the rockets overshot the FOB by a good distance so we weren't in any danger.

Just now I was walking from the TOC to the company command post (CP) via a shortcut across the helipad. The route is more dangerous because there aren't as many places to seek shelter and it's a wide open area, but the route does shave off a good bit distance and time. When I was about 2/3 of the way to the CP there was a huge explosion that made me jump and left me trying to figure out where I could seek shelter. A second later the PA system announced that it was controlled detonation. I think the controlled det was very nearby because I could seek black smoke rising right over the FOB perimeter wall nearby to were I was standing.

Even though it was a controlled det it shook me up a bit because for a moment I didn't know if it was one or not and all I knew was that I was out in the open unprotected with the explosion being very close. It's now time to put all of my gear back on. I'm still hoping each day that I'll find out that we won't have to wear all of our gear anymore.

25 March 08

There were two more IDF attacks today. The first was around 1400 and I was sitting in the Tactical Operating Center (TOC) for it. They were able to get a point of origin (POO) quickly and so they redirected Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) coverage to the POO. A blue bongo truck and a white sedan were at the scene and we followed the truck as it fled. The chase lasted over an hour and involved multiple people, insurgent vehicles, stops, and dropping off of equipment. At ont point we had attack aviation on the scene, but they couldn't positively identify the vehicle on the ground. All of us wanted to see them blow the insurgent vehicle to smithereens, but that never happened. In the end the three main insurgent vehicles were all stopped at a single house with the insurgents meeting inside, but everyone fled on foot just as ground troops arrived. Itw as extremely frustrating to watch them all get away.

This evening my roommate, Z, and I heard multiple explosiong but couldn't tell if they were incoming or outgoing. We were both a little jumpy and sensitive to sounds. The first explosions we heard were outgoing, but then around 2200 the sirens started going off and rounds began raining down on the FOB. I think there were 6-8 rounds during the first attack today, but I only counted 4-5 rounds in the second attack.

So far I haven't heard of any casualties from the second attack. No one was injured in the first one. At this rate we'll be wearing full battle rattle for the next 14.5 months.

24 March 08

This time around in Iraq is a lot different than last tour. In the days leading up to my arrival in country the forward operating base (FOB) had received multiple rounds of indirect fire (IDF), but only minor damage to buildings. The day I arrived, 21 March, I was joking with WO1 W. after dinner about how there hadn't been any IDF that day because the Anti-Coalition Forces (ACF) knew I was on the FOB. Then, not even five minutes later, at least 10 rounds of IDF came in. When the first round hit Mr. W and I looked at each other wondering if it was incoming or outgoing. We decided it must be outgoing because the sirens hadn't sounded, but right then the siren sounded and more rounds started coming in. Mr. W and I were right by our living quarters and ran inside the warehouse when the rounds started hitting. That's the last time I'll joke about an IDF attack not occurring on my account. One Soldier was killed and four were severely wounded in that attack.

Ever since that day we've had to wear full battle rattle every time we step outside or are in a building that is not a hardened structure during a 12-hour period of the day. We also are no longer allowed to eat lunch or dinner in the dining facility (DFAC) and instead have to get carryout boxes. While writing this we just had another IDF attack, so I'm guessing we'll be in full battle rattle for a few more days.

Last night I was in the TOC when the battle major yelled over for the UAV to fly to the site of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) strike. It was dark out and so the UAV was using the infrared camera and I could tell that the IED strike site was extremely hot, but didn't think to much of it while I was watching the screen besides to wonder why it appeared so hot. I found out in the morning that what I saw the night before was a Bradley on fire. Four Soldiers inside burned to death and a fifth one was severely burned and might not survive. I was seeing Soldiers die and didn't even know it. CNN reported the IED strike because the death of those four Soldiers pushed the OIF death toll above 4,000.

Is it normal that I feel almost no emotion when I write all of this? The only emotions I do feel are those pertaining to wondering if I should feel anything because I just talked about five Soldiers dying.

Magic Time

This is the tent I lived in for two weeks in Kuwait, although this picture only shows half the tent. There were over 60 females living in the tent.

This is a picture from the doorway of my room in Iraq. My bed is the one on the right.

Here is what the outside of the rooms look like inside the warehouse. My PSG and his roommates aquired a couch that sits right outside their door, which is across from my door.

I've found, as with most people on FOB Falcon, that I've tried my best to plan my day so that most of my running around is accomplished before Magic Time. I'm not going to go in to what Magic Time is on this blog, but I will say that hopefully today is the last day with Magic Time because dressing up is getting old, especially in this heat. Thankfully, no magic shows have occurred during Magic Time the past few days and so it looks hopeful that today will be the last day of Magic Time. Goodness, my short term memory really is bad. I remember waking up yesterday and deciding to get up because I wanted to do something before Magic Time began, but for the life of me I can't remember what that something was. Oh, it's coming back to me now. I wanted to drop off my laundry. Unfortunately, I also wanted to go to the PX, but it opened after Magic Time had already begun and so it was a bit awkward carrying my new plastic 3-drawer cart back to my room. Things to look forward to after Magic Time ends: sitting in the DFAC to eat meals, no dressing up for 12 hours, going for a jog around the FOB, not being called Sir anymore, and so many other reasons.

Life is definitely different this time around. I have a roommate (and possibly a second one), I live in a room inside a warehouse instead of in a trailer, there is wireless internet in our living area, the FOB is a lot smaller, I carry an M4 instead of an M16, I'm a platoon leader instead of a BN staff officer, and I can use SKYPE to call people in my room instead of having to go to the phone trailer. All of those are positive things (even the roommates!). This may sound crazy and my attitude will most likely change after I've been here a few months, but right now I'm liking life and I am looking forward to taking over the mission here.

Kuwait and Iraq

Picture of me while I was the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the M4 Zero Range in Kuwait. It was pretty cool being out and looking around the Kuwait desert.

I got to see lots of camels out in the desert :)

This is a picture of the actual M4 range we ran.

I survived my two weeks in Kuwait and last night I arrived at FOB Falcon in Iraq. Falcon is definetly different than Taji, and tomorrow I will get to see just how different because I am making a one day trip up to Taji to drop off some flight records. Whereas in Taji I had a large two-person room all to myself, right now I am living in a room the size of a small Taji two-person room but have three other roommates (my commander, my supply sergeant, and an Air Force sergeant).

Ireland

I suppose that when I told people I was getting deployed they assumed I meant to Iraq or Afghanistan, but right now I'm sitting in beautiful Ireland enjoying the scenery, watching Heroes on my computer, and sipping on a Latte.  Yes, life is hard.  Unfortunately for me, I'm only stopped over in Ireland for a couple hours and then I continue on to the real deployment.

The List

It's almost 11pm and I'm sitting on the couch thinking about how I want to go to bed, but if I go to bed I don't know if I'll be able to sleep and I don't want to spend my last real night in my nice, comfy, big, non-cot bed tossing and turning.  Plus, the moment I lay down my mind will start going a million miles a minute and come up with last minute things I need to do and get.  I'm on the verge of freak-out mode.  Lets see, tomorrow I need to call Grandma, Heidi (if she's on skype), Ruth, Andrea, Jon, Misha,...(list to be continued as I think of more names), pay Thrivent bill and give mom check for next year, renew computer software, write Nutun a letter (only 6 months late), wash linens and clothes, sort and pack civilian clothes, buy new carry on bag and pack it, cancel car insurance, drop bags off, call Jordan about new time, move bed, give mom and dad documents and key, copy phone numbers from phone, drop old books off somewhere (could end up being a dumpster), pick up name tapes, buy more PT shorts, buy phone card, pay final rent, write Andrea's birthday card (could wait till the plane or Kuwait though), charge dvd player, have lunch with the platoon, get rid of my food in the house, sleep in (because won't be able to for a long time), make pancakes for breakfast?, clean out car, and avoid stressing-out.  Sounds like it will be a fun-filled easy day...

 

Sweet Dreams.

Cuddle-Bug

This morning we were released early because there is a company pre-deployment party this afternoon for the soldiers and their families. I got home after work and Calvin and Violet were very excited to see me because no one else was home to keep them company. Violet loves to cuddle and when I sat down on the couch she wanted to get up and sit by me. She ended up falling asleep snuggled next to me and I was able to snap this picture of her with my webcam.

Peaceful Run

This evening I went for a run around the neighborhood and decided to run through a portion that is under construction.  Though I've lived in this area since June, it was the first time I ran in this area and I wish that I discovered it sooner. The developers hadn't started building houses and only 1/2 the roads were paved.  If I faced West I realized that I couldn't see any buildings in sight, which I found incredibly peaceful. I immediately felt some tension and stress leave my body as I ran further away from the developed areas and civilization. Though I had only planned on running 5 miles, I ended up running 6 miles because I was enjoying the calm and the scenery so much. It reminded me of my favorite portion of I-35, the Flint Hills.  All you can see is prairie and rolling hills without a man-made structure other than the freeway in sight for miles.  I looked forward to that part of the drive on my three trips along that route this year.  Perhaps I should move to Wyoming or Alaska some day.

 

 

Flip-Flops Make Good Pillows

Since I don't have kids to write about yet I am instead going to write about Calvin and Violet.

This evening I ended up dog-sitting Calvin and Violet while Karen went down to Austin for the night with Kristen, our other roommate who just got back from Iraq on Friday, and their friend Matt, who is back on R&R from Iraq. I had planned to stick around the house and do more packing anyway, so watching the dogs wasn't a problem for me. What I didn't think of when I agreed to watch them is that both dogs had slept all afternoon. Calvin was tired from a run that Karen and Matt took him on, but Violet was sleeping because Calvin was sleeping. The result was that Violet had a ton of energy while I was trying to pack later in the evening. She tried to get that energy out by chewing on anything an everything, to include my watch (while I was wearing it), my pocket zipper on my pants (while I was wearing those pants), a pair of fluffy bunny ears attached to a headband (fake, and I was not wearing them), and my pony tail if I happened to by lying on the ground. Thankfully, though her teeth are pointing she doesn't doesn't actually do any damage to anything with them...yet.

Dinner was another issue (theirs, not mine). Violet has puppy food while Calvin has big dog food, and both of them seem to prefer the others. Calvin isn't a very picky eater and so he eventually eats any food in his dish, but Violet was only interested in chewing on the plastic bowl her food was in and didn't appear to be interested in her food at all. If I left her alone then the food would get spilled all over the floor and Calvin would gladly eat all of it for her. I'm not sure how much she has actually eaten the past few days because what I just described seems to be the general trend. I finally figured out that if I put her food in my hand and hold it out to her she'll eat it that way (with a few nibbles on my fingers), but if I leave it on the ground then she's not interested in eating it. I ended up feeding her her whole cup of food from my hand while Calvin tried his best to get to her food anyway he could.

Below are a few pictures I took throughout the evening of Calvin and Violet:

Flip-Flops make good pillows.

Calvin trying to reach the blueberry muffins I just baked.

Calvin and Violet asleep in the Couch

Calvin and Violet in the Kitchen

Back In Texas

Happy day after Valentine's Day. Yesterday was quite a momentous day for me with none of the reason having anything to do with Valentines day. Now that I think about it though, it being valentine's day yesterday did ruin my plans to enjoy a nice steak and mashed potatoes dinner followed by a movie. Traffic was horrendous because everyone was out trying to get to their valentine's day date destination and the wait at the restaurant was 80-90 minutes, so I went to Denny's instead and had breakfast for dinner followed by watching TV in my room instead of trying to endure the crowd at the theater.

Back to the reason yesterday was momentous. First of all, though not the first momentous thing that happened, I graduated from my course and left Fort Leavenworth. Unlike the other 4ID people in the course I can not say that I was looking forward to going back to Fort Hood. If I could've stayed a couple weeks later at Fort Leavenworth and then deployed straight from there I would've gladly jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, no genie pops out of a lamp for me and says "your wish is my command," and so now I am back in Texas. The nice thing is that it is a four day weekend for President's Day. Since I graduated yesterday morning and then departed right after graduation it is more like a 5.5 day holiday for me, though I now have plans to go to SRC (final pre-deployment records and medical checks) at 6:30 am on Tuesday morning with my XO.

The other event in my life that occurred yesterday is that the Army decided that, since I haven't murdered anyone or gotten any DUI's, I am promotable to Captain. They posted the promotion list yesterday morning and, if the trend from the past two years holds true for this year, 1 July will be the date of the big event. Iraq must be my lucky promotion spot since it is where I was promoted to 1LT on my last full day there in 2006.

There have been a few changes around where I live that I immediately noticed driving in to town. For one, there is now a starbucks in Harker Heights, which makes two for the greater Fort Hood area. Another change is that across the freeway from the new Starbucks they are building a Barnes & Nobles. I actually let out an audible cheer in my car when I saw the under construction sign because the only other book stores within 20-50 miles are a Family Christian Bookstore (which I think I've bought out), and a Hastings Books & Music. Of course, my joy was short-lived when I realized that it is highly unlikely that they will have the store finished in less than 2.5 weeks. Oh well, it's something to look forward to when I return (if it is to Fort Hood to which we return and not Fort Carson).

There was one other major change that really surprised me. When I opened the front door of the house I expected to be greeted by my roommate's rambunctious yellow lab, Calvin. Instead, I was quite surprised to see a little yellow lab pup (8 weeks old) sitting in the hallway and no Calvin in sight. My roommate wasn't home and so I took to calling the new pup "little guy" (though it turns out she's a girl) and was so distracted playing with the puppy that it took me awhile to get around to unloading my Jeep. My fears of Calvin having died or been given away were put to rest when Karen and Calvin walked in the door later. Apparently Calvin is a bit jealous of Violet (the puppy has a name!), but Violet adores Calvin and tries to imitate everything he does. Karen lets Calvin sleep on her bed, but since Violet also sleeps up there Calvin now refuses to sleep on the bed and instead crawls under the bed to sleep. Violet, wanting to be like Calvin, follows him under the bed whereupon Calvin growls at her. Unlike Calvin, Violet is an angel save for the fact that she started gnawing on my running shoe while it was still on my foot. Hopefully Violet will be a good influence on Calvin and they will one day get along.

Mostly About Running

Today I accomplished something that I haven't done in quite a while, I ran a mile in 7:20. Last year that wouldn't have seemed like a huge accomplishment because that was a pace I knew I could run at, or faster, but I've slacked off running in recent months.

My original goal was to see if I could sustain an 8mph pace or below on the treadmill for two miles, but almost halfway through the first mile I realized that something I ate for lunch wasn't sitting very well (I'll leave it at that) and that I was pushing my luck with trying to make it one mile on the treadmill in that condition. I somehow managed to finish the mile, perhaps because I wasn't focused on how much I dislike treadmills but instead focused on finishing the mile so that I could make it to the bathroom as quickly as possible. It was a bit disappointing because running-wise I felt great and wanted to keep going, but I felt weird for the rest of the day, especially after I ate anything. I'm not sick, but something isn't quite right.

I talked to Heidi today and found out that she is sick :( Get well soon!!!! I also read Karen's blog and am saying a prayer that her family gets over the flu soon, or whatever it is that is making them sick.

As I stated above, I really dislike running on treadmills. I find them boring and the time seems to drag by while the distance crawls by even slower. However, I've found that if I do intervals or hill workouts on the treadmill I can at least get myself to run for 30-35 minutes at a time. I suppose I should get used to treadmills because they will most likely be my only option if I want to run in a couple months.

There is one other thing I've found that helps me while running on the treadmill for which I can at least partially attribute to my friend George. A couple months ago George let me borrow a cd/dvd talk by Dr. Ray Guerendi. I really the talk and found it both entertaining and informative. I decided to look Dr. Ray up on the internet and found a podcast on iTunes of his "The Doctor Is In" radio show. Now I listen to that podcast while running on the treadmill because it keeps me more entertained and less focused on my dislike of treadmills than when I listen to regular music, which means that I am able to run longer. I've downloaded a couple hundred of his podcasts in hopes that they will continue to help me while running on a treadmill in Iraq.

Pre-Deployment Thoughts

I have less than a month left before I board a plane and head back over for round two. The closeness of the deployment is starting to hit me more frequently. My feelings about deploying are different this time than they were last time. Last time I was purely excited and couldn’t wait to go. The only ideas of what it would be like over there were things my imagination could come up with, and the majority of my preconceived notions were wrong. This time, however, I have my past experience clouding my vision of the future for both the good and bad.

Part of me is still looking forward to being over there largely because I feel like I am slacking off somehow by being back in the states when I have friends and classmates who are deployed. I am also looking forward to getting away from Fort Hood and garrison life. The past year was entirely focused on training and getting ready to deploy after having just gotten back from the first deployment. The optempo was quite fast and a lot was asked of the soldiers in terms of time and training. I’d rather be in Iraq than stuck at Fort Hood training for Iraq.

As the deployment draws nearer I’m finding myself looking around and trying to take in the things I normally take for granted, such as the ability to drive my car down the road, sleep in late on the weekends and be lazy if I want, wear regular clothes and my hair down, have a bathroom and shower a few feet away from where I sleep that doesn’t require me going outside to reach, and so many other things.

From what I’ve heard recently, Iraq is much quieter than when I was there last time. Most likely, the worst things I will have to deal with are trying to overcome the groundhog effect of the days as well as making sure that I don’t get fat from all of the food at the dining facility. I don’t know what life will be like this time around, but if it’s anything like last time than I can’t complain about a lack of creature comforts.

My Nephew!!!

Now that Betsy and Mark have posted pictures of him on their blog I feel it's safe to mention the birth of my nephew, Iain Paul, on this blog. He's soooo cute, but if you want to see pictures you'll have to go over to Betsy's blog. He was born this morning and weighted 6lbs 15 oz. It hasn't really sunk in yet that my sister is a mom and that I'm an aunt, but I'll hopefully be able to visit them the weekend after next and that will most likely make it a bit more real. Have I mentioned that he's very cute?

Fort Leavenworth

Thanks to some help from my friendly neighbor and fellow 1BCT'er I now have a working LAN connection in my room. So far I've greatly enjoyed my time here at Fort Leavenworth. Although class the past two days has gone a couple hours into the afternoon, we've been told that's not normally the case and that most of the time we'll be done by noon and then have the afternoon for studying and such. Not only do I feel like I am getting a great workout for my mind and being intellectually stimulated here, I'm also getting by body back in shape. Even with class going into the afternoon, we still get out incredibly early and so I've been able to get in a good run and workout at the gym before heading back to my room to eat dinner and study.

Fort Leavenworth is so much more beautiful than Fort Hood. Yesterday I went for a run around the post and saw signs in many of the front yards of the houses stating the year when the house was built. Most of them were built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. One more great thing is that there is supposedly a ski hill nearby that has days where active duty military can ski or snowboard for only $5. Some of the other people in the course and myself will most likely go check that place out later this week.

To sum it up, the past three days have been almost like a vacation or retreat. Though I'm sure my mind will get a good a workout and as a result I'll be quite mentally exhausted at times, right now I am really enjoying the course and being at Fort Leavenworth for the next couple of weeks.

Infomercial Time

I am going to risk sounding like an infomercial right now because I feel the need to share about how I am very impressed by the Space Bag. The Space Bag is a storage bag that looks similar to a huge ziploc bag, but instead of only having a seal at the top, it also has a one-way valve that fits a vacuum cleaner hose so that you can vacuum out all the air in the bag and thereby significantly compress whatever you put into the bag.

I must admit that I'd seen products similar to Space Bag on TV before and laughed at them, but then saw the product at the store a couple weeks ago and figured that since I am doing a lot of packing where maximizing the usage of all available space is essential I should give them a try. So far I have packed my C Bag, which is the duffel bag that will be packed in the milvan and which I will not see again until I am in Iraq. Normally I struggle to fit everything on the packing list, but with the use of a couple Space Bags I was able to pack, in addition to almost everything else on the packing list for that bag, an extra pair of ACUs, a feather pillow, a down comforter/throw, a set of sheets and extra pillow cases, my JLIST (think big and bulky pants and jacket), and my wet weather boots, as well as some extra t-shirts, socks, and underwear.

I hope to use the Space Bag when packing my other two duffel bags, but will not be able to add as much additional stuff. When we get to Kuwait I will most likely be breaking the vacuum seals on a couple of the bags in order to get to my clothes and things necessary for everyday life. There will not be a vacuum cleaner handy when it comes to repack the bags to head up to Iraq and so my originally nicely compressed stuff will puff out to all manner of sizes.

This evening I also packed my small tough box that will go in the milvan. The violin I bought in Iraq last year and Joe Bear will both be making the trip back over this year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Change

Change. I do not deal very well with change, especially when I am not able to ease in to it. Last year when it was nearing the end of my tour in Iraq I dreaded coming home. It was not that I enjoyed being in Iraq, but it was what I knew. The thought of the all the changes that lay ahead terrified me. Looking back I can see many instances where I was terrified of the changes that lay ahead. One was the change of command midway through Beast. Though my squad did not particularly like our first squad leader I was not looking forward to the switch to a new squad leader because it would be adjusting to a new person, who could be better or worse then the first. Turns out we liked our second squad leader a lot better.

When I go home I always imagine that it'll be a sort of escape for the hectic life I currently live and all the changes that lay ahead. I get sucked into thinking I'll be returning to the the comfort and familiarity of the life I left behind....but I don't. I come home to change. Lots of change. Life has moved on since I left. The house is nearly always different in some way when I come home, be it a change in a room's décor, or just new dinner plates. The neighborhood's changed with new houses being built in the fields I used to escape to for solitude. People have changed, gotten older, gotten married, lived their lives. At least when I am back where I live in Texas I have gotten used to the familiarity of my surroundings and can slowly adjust to the changes as they happen because I am present to watch them. When I come home to Michigan it is like being hit with a million changes all at once and nothing is familiar.

I noticed over Thanksgiving that I had a somewhat hard time while I was home, but then when was in Minnesota my mood and outlook was vastly improved. Perhaps it was because I had no expectations for the familiar since it was my first time visiting Betsy and Mark. I was not constantly surrounded by reminders of all that I have missed in the time I've been away and all that has changed. I could truly relax because I was not trying to reconcile my memories of the past with the state of the present.

Change is not bad, but it is overwhelming at times.

Fast Forward

10-21DEC07: Out in the "field" flying with my platoon.

24DEC-02JAN07: Home on leave

06JAN-15FEB07: Fort Leavenworth, KS for a 6 week course.

Very Early March: Deploy to Iraq

 

My life is suddenly moving very fast.  Sweet.

 

I am still running, but I'm too lazy to sit down and log it into my computer.  I also haven't been running as much recently and when I do run it is at a much slower pace. 

 

I am most likely going to become Catholic sometime here in the near future. 

 

Congratulations Uncle Dave and Debbie on your three new babies! 

 

Have I mentioned that I'd like to get married, settle down, and raise a family?  In the mean time I'll make the most of my all expense paid trip to the desert.  It's about the same, right?  Family vs.  War...they both have the letter A in the words, and the words are also composed of letters in the english alphabet.  Yes, the similarities between the two are quite stunning. I definetly could mix them up if I'm not careful.   

LOT'S OF SLEEP

Apparently I was more tired than I thought after watching the game yesterday. I went to bed around 2:45 PM because I hadn't done more than doze a tiny bit the night before and thought a nap would do me some good. Although I usually go to a Bible Study at 7 PM on Saturday nights, I figured I'd most likely wake up on my own before then and so I didn't set an alarm. So much for that idea. My radio turned on by itself at 9:30 pm and woke me up for the first time. I figured that since I had just slept for 6.5 hours I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep for awhile. About 30 minutes later I went back to bed and shortly thereafter fell asleep again. I woke up once just long enough to check the clock and saw that it was 6:30 AM, and then next time I woke up was my alarm going off at 7:45 AM. Totaling all of that up I slept for almost 17 hours.

Staff Duty

Last night I had staff duty once again. Though as the officer on duty I am allowed to rest, I can never manage to get any good sleep. I spent almost the whole night sitting at my desk in the office either reading, surfing the internet, watching movies, or dozing in my chair. It tends to get quite cold in there at night and the above picture is of me sitting at my desk around 1:30 AM trying to stay warm. What is not visible is that underneath the fleece jacket I am wearing a t-shirt, wool sweater, and the ACU top, as well as wool gloves on my hands. Though I managed to stay warmer than any other time I've been on Staff Duty, I was still a bit cold at times. The Soldiers on duty laughed at me at first when they saw me wearing all that clothing, but when I went to check on them later on during the night they saying that they were freezing. Trying to adjust the thermostats does nothing.

Currently I am wide awake, but I'll probably crash shortly after the big game is over since I haven't done more than an hour of dozing in the past 30 hours.

Away Message

My friend Jon to requested that my away message on IM would, "bring a small tear to my [his] eye -- but not one that actually makes a tear fall out," and use "big words; colorful ones," so I came up with this away message:

"This Turquoise person is off to her Navajo White church small group where she will have a very Chartreuse, Magenta, Fuschia, and Aquamarine dinner and then a SandyBrown Bible Study.

Remember that time you spilled milk when you were a kid? It's okay to tear up at the memory."

I know it does not make any sense, but that's part of the charm. He liked it, so I guess that's all that really matters.

Venting

This may sound very weird, but sometimes, such as right now, I wish I could call someone on the phone and stay on the phone with them but not have either of us talk. No chit-chat, no catching up on how friends/relatives/whoever are doing, no talking about what's on our mind, nothing. Even better would be to have someone here in person and for them to put their arm around me and neither of us talk, just sit there and do nothing. I don't know why this is so appealing but it's not the first time I've wished it were possible.

An event with one of my Soldier's two days ago threw me for a loop and ever since then I've been an emotional wreck. It's like a huge weight suddenly descended upon me. Now all I can think about is going on leave in a week and hoping that I can hold myself together until then. I failed horribly at that today and it was quite embarrassing. Usually I can control my emotions pretty well, especially when in uniform. However, yesterday and today I wasn't in uniform at work due to a course, Applied Suicide Intervention Training (ASIST), I was attending. There was a portion of the course today where we role-played a scenario in front of the group, and my scenario didn't go too well. I was never able to connect with the person who was suicidal and so it was quite awkward throughout the whole thing. Afterwards I felt I'd failed in my scenario and the instructor saw that and so he came over to talk to me when he put everyone on break. He was telling me that I didn't fail and even did okay and even though I was trying with all my might to hold them back the tears started coming and for the life of me I could not stop them. Even though he said it was okay to cry and even said that he was glad to see me cry because it showed I really did care I felt extremely stupid and unprofessional sitting there crying and wished I could stop.

This weekend is a four day weekend for Veterans Day with Monday and Tuesday off, but tomorrow I am the Staff Duty Officer for both my Brigade and Battalion, so I'll be awake and at work from 8 am Saturday to 9 am Sunday and then mostly likely sleep all day Sunday. The person who has duty on Tuesday called me today and offered me $150 to take his shift, but I said no because I'm hoping that I'll figure out some way to relax on Monday and Tuesday and be able to go back to work a bit more refreshed on Wednesday.

Calvin's been his usual self recently. Yesterday my roommate's friends were over at the house and one of them brought her dog. I was home alone with the dogs and when I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth as I got ready for bed and out of the corner of my eye I saw Calvin run past the door with something in his mouth. From his behavior I could tell he was trying to hide something, so I immediately went to find him. Since I didn't see him in the living room I went straight to looking under Karen's bed, since that's Calvin's favorite hiding spot when he has something he knows he has something he's not supposed to have. He was under there chewing on a toy stuffed monkey that belonged to the other dog. When I tried to grab it from him he would scoot out the other side of the bed. After a couple failed attempts I climbed on top of the bed and a few seconds later I saw his nose and the monkey poke out from under the bed. He let go of the monkey just long enough for me to snatch it from him. It was rather funny to see only his snout poking out from under the bed sniffing around trying to locate the monkey while the rest of him was still hidden. After he realized the monkey was no longer there he slowly crawled out from under the bed with a guilty look on his face. There have been a couple other instances since then with him, but this post is already long enough.

Calvin...

Yesterday Jordan and Zack had Zuleka, George, and myself over to watch the Army vs Airforce football game on TV. I'd told Jordan that I'd bring dessert, since she was ordering the pizza and Zuleka said she'd bring something. Earlier in the week I'd made mini-cheesecakes to take to Bible Study, but had extra cookie dough shells that I hadn't used, so I planned to put them to use and take the mini-cheesecakes to the party, along with Sweet Crunchies (aka, peanut butter chewies). I'd placed the cookies in a plastic container with a lid on the kitchen counter and thought they were far enough back so that they were out of Calvin's reach. To my knowledge, he left them alone all week and so I thought nothing of leaving them out where they were.

Saturday morning I went out for a long fartleck run and during the run kept thinking about how grateful I was that the cookie crust portion of the cheesecakes were already done because I wouldn't have much time after my run to shower, bake, and then drive over the Jordan's before the game started. Unfortunatly, Calvin had other ideas.

When I got back to the house I was walking through the living room to get to the kitchen when glaced over on the floor and saw a plastic container on the ground that looked strikingly similar to the container that the cookie's had been in. Upon picking it up and seeing what appeared to be a couple of cookie crumbs in the bottom of it, I quickly peered into the kitchen and saw that the container on the counter was no longer there. Upon yelling his name, Calvin sauntered into the room with a stupid grin on his face and procceed to come up to me as if to say, "want to play?"

I did have to start from scratch with the mini-cheesecakes, but they are increadibly easy to make and it turned out that I could the sweet crunchies at the same time, so not too much time was lost.

Though he tests my patience more and more each day and I find myself sternly saying his name and telling him 'no' more than any other living creature I've ever come across, he is still lovable. I should probably go take him for a walk now or else he'll keep my roommate and I up all night like he did last night because he was moving around and making a ton of noise in the middle of the night.

Title?

    Where do I start with this entry?  Do I even want to start?  That's another good question.  I'm tired and my roommate's dog, Calvin, is barking again.  I thought I liked dogs, and then I met Calvin.  Granted, I do like Calvin, but he's an excellent reminder for me of why I am glad I do not have a dog, let alone a child.  I don't have the will or energy to give him the attention he needs and wants.  For instance, I came home from work today and the only thing I wanted to do was go for a bike ride.  It was all I could think about this afternoon.  Had I not run a half-marathon yesterday I most likely would've wanted to go for a run instead, but the bike ride was a good substitute. 

    When I entered the house around 6:30 pm it was clear that Karen, my roommate who owns Calvin, had not come home from school yet and that Calvin was very lonely.  My other roommate, Maggie, had just arrived home and so we were both trying to unload our things while Calvin was jumping all over us and getting in the way of everything. I played with him for a few minutes, but I was still determined to go for the bike ride. He got all excited when he saw that I was putting on exercise clothes and then looked a bit sad when I closed the front door without taking him with me outside.  The bike ride was nice and relaxing, but when I got home Calvin was even more hyper and Karen still wasn't home.  Maggie had gone out for a run and so Calvin had been all alone again.  I felt bad and also didn't want to deal with an extremely hyper dog all evening, so I took him for a short walk.  After that he did calm down a bit, although he still had enough energy to try and get to the food on the counters, jump on my bed, and find doors I forgot to close and examine any trash in the trashcan in that room.  I think the phrase I say to him the most is, "No! Calvin." 

    How do other people handle the constant demands on time and energy?  Work leaves me exhausted even though I don't think I've done or accomplished much at all, and I can't imagine coming home and having more people vying for attention. 

    My need to unwind, and inability to do so right now, surfaced again unexpectedly when I was home for Heidi's wedding.  I thought my random and unexplainable breaking down crying was finished after R&R and right after I came home from Iraq, but it occurred within an hour of me arriving home for the wedding.  I was standing in the living room when all of a sudden I started crying, and by crying I mean bawling, without any cause or reason behind it.  As usual, it frightened me a bit which made it even worse.  When it occurred I didn't want anyone to see me in that state, but when I thought I was finally regaining control someone would find me and start talking to me about something completely unrelated, which proceeded to set the waterworks off again (usually after they left).  The whole scenario repeated itself a few more times over the course of the weekend and I did my best to duck out of sight when it occurred.  Hopefully the road trip home will allow me sufficient time to unwind before I arrive in Michigan and Thanksgiving will be better. 

    I recently realized that I rarely smile at work.  The most I've smiled recently was when the Family Readiness Group hosted a party for the children of the Soldiers in my company and I was in the room watching all the kids play and make photo frames with their parents.  I had a grin plastered on my face the whole time, and a real grin, not a fake one at that.  Once the party was over and we had to get back to work my smile walked out the door with the kids. 

 

It's a Boy!

Betsy's having a boy :)  I'm so excited about my nephew. 

Sleep

I just slept for 14 hours :)

Breath of Fresh Air

This afternoon I got back from NTC and though I was glad to be back there was still a weight on me that I couldn't shake.  I also realized that I was fast approaching another point where it is either I engage the world or it engages me.  In order to combat both matters I tried to contact some women from church to see if anyone was free for dinner.  Unfortunately, nobody was free or they weren't home.  Still needing some support, I ended up calling Mike, but he didn't answer when I called.  Later in the afternoon, however, he called me back and I asked if I could go hang out with him at his house for a bit.  He was fine with that and so I went over around eight thinking that I would just use him as a listening ear. It turns out that when I got over there he was watching a video of a debate between a creationist (www.drdino.com) and an evolutionist. We ended up not talking much at all except to make occasional comments about the debate, but I left feeling more refreshed then I have in a long time.  The debate was extremely interesting, except for the evolutionist was a joke and never made a solid argument or had a straightforward answer to any questions.  The breath of fresh air for me was being around someone who is extremely passionate about Christ and sharing it with others (Mike), and the intellectual stimulation and thought provoking arguments that came about in the video.  I left feeling excited and wanting to dive into Scripture again.

 

 

Taji

A couple nights ago I had a dream that I was at home on leave, but instead of getting ready to go to NTC on Friday I was instead getting ready to deploy back to Iraq on Friday. In my dream I was talking to someone about it and the reality of going back to Taji for 15 months was sinking in during the dream. I don't mind going back, but what I am dreading is being there for 15 months. Last year around this time I was starting the countdown to coming home because it seemed like it was almost around the corner. Realizing that the unit that replaced us still has a long ways to go blows my mind. I think have about four months left in the states, but the months have been speeding up recently because there is so much to do an so little time. I wonder if once I get back to Taji it'll feel like I ever even left. I can still picture almost every detail of my run routes around the camp, the faces of the workers at the laundry facility, all of the ied hot spots on a map in MND-B (though I'm sure they've changed over the past year), the long stretches of commo blackouts, the Tigris River Chapel and the airfield gym. It's still all so recent in my memory. I was a fobbit last year and so, for the most part, all I knew was the camp. This coming tour I will start out as a fobbit given the mission of my platoon, but I don't know what position I'll be in later on in the rotation. Will I still confuse the sound of a controlled det or an ied blowing up off in the distance with the sound of a garage door closing? For some reason they sounded very similar to me and so when I heard the detonations I immediately thought of the garage door at home closing. It still hasn't completely sunk in yet that I'll be back there before the end of the year.

I've Changed

I keep thinking about writing in here, but often it is pessimistic rantings and so I refrain. I also don't have the time or creative energy to write. I don't have a lot of time or energy to do much of anything anymore. It's gotten to the point where I am looking forward to getting back to Iraq because right now things back here seem a lot more demanding and crazy than life over there. It stinks to be here with things the way they are, and it stinks to be there, but I'd rather be in Iraq.

I realized a couple weeks ago that I am no where near ready to get married, nor do I even want to consider being in a relationship right now. Finally admitting that was rather freeing. The scary thing is that I was reading a few blogs today written by women a few years older then me who have kids, and the idea of being a wife and mother was something that seemed so overwhelming and exhausting that it lost it's appeal to me. Maybe I will just stay single. My reasons for wanting to remain single aren't good at all and seem quite selfish. I like my sleep, space, personal time, quiet, and ability to crash on the weekend and not move from my bed for most of the day because I'm so worn out. The last one, not being able to move from my bed, is not something I actually enjoy because I'd rather have the energy to move, but right now I have the freedom to stay and bed and not move because I have no energy.

SHADOW TUAV

These are a couple pictures of Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that my platoon operates. We finally had good weather for 4 days straight last week and got in some flights.

On a completly different note, CONGRATULATIONS BETSY AND MARK!!! I can't wait to meet my niece or nephew:)

R-Day

Happy R-day USMA class of 2011. 

Thinking

There are times that I wish I knew without a doubt that I was outwardly ugly, because then I would also know that if a guy were ever to be attracted to me it would be because the part of me he likes most is who I am as a person instead of how I look on the outside.

Crossing The Finish Line

Here I am crossing the finish line at the marathon. The time reflected is not my chip time but the time of the marathon. My chip time was a little over 10 min faster.

Yesterday I tried to go for a run, but experienced some lower back pain that I haven't had before and so I turned around after 2 blocks. It felt like cramps in my lower back because it was more of an ache than a sharp pain and would disappear when I walked. Perhaps I need to stretch my hamstrings more or something.

Rambelings

At times I feel so old and like I have far to much responsibility for a 23 year-old, and then at other times I feel incredibly young and immature for my 23 years of age.  It boggles my mind that I am leading more than 20 soldiers, some whom have over a decade more experience in the military than myself, and overall responsible and accountable for somewhere between 2-10 million of dollars worth of equipment.  Thankfully, my platoon sergeant is awesome and I lean on him heavily.  It's in the military setting, due to the magnitude of responsibility and constant demands, that I feel older than 23.  Outside the military, when interacting with my non-military peers in a social setting, especially when they are married, I feel incredibly young. 

 

I used to want kids, but I'm never around them and now they intimidate me.  I don't know how to interact with them.  I still love kids and wish I was better with them, but I have no clue what to do.  Truthfully, I see a kid and I distance myself from them now.  It may sound weird, but the reason I back off from them is that I don't want them to make it blatantly obvious that they don't like me and I'm not good with them. 

 

Someday I want to taste success for more than a single day.  I want to be in a place where I don't feel guilty if I go home at night even though I worked 12-14 hours that day;  A place in life where I'm not constantly hanging on by my fingertips trying to juggle all the glass balls and then having more thrown into the mix at any given momement;  Where I am making a difference and sharing Christ with people; A place where I can actually be and feel like a woman;  A place that I smile more than I frown;  A place where I know what I am doing and am comfertable instead of always flying by the seat of my pants; A place where there is hope;  A place where individual people matter more than numbers and statistics;  a place where people are taught to love one another.  Does such a place exist?

Late Night Thoughts

Bold Color Dry Erase….Thus claims the EXPO dry erase marker that is on the table in front of me. I wonder how well it would sell if perhaps instead of "bold," the color were pegged as "audacious" or perhaps "daring." I can easily understand why the manufactures choose to call the color bold over my two suggestions, but why must the color of the marker even be marked as bold in the first place? Are there colors that are not bold? Looking at the end result of the marker on paper, to me the color appears to be a normal orange hue. In fact, it reminds me of an orange creamsicle. Would I call a creamsicle bold? Probably not, though they are quite tasty.

Now you may be wondering what has provoked me to write about a phrase on a dry erase marker, especially at 1:00 AM, though I don't expect to post this entry for quite a while so I can not expect you to know that it is currently 1:00 AM. Whether or not you know the exact time that I am writing this entry is of little consequence, and my reason for writing is of no more importance either. The reason for my writing is that I am on Brigade Staff Duty and awaiting the time to do my after-midnight checks of the BDE footprint. Being that it is after midnight at the moment, I could knock out the checks right now, but that would leave me with a good chunk of time afterwards when I doubt I'd have the mental capacity to contemplate such highly stimulating things as bold color dry erase markers. Of note, these particular markers are certified AP Nontoxic. I feel much safer knowing that a certain Ian M. could chew on as many of these markers for as long as he like without any damage due to toxins. I say his name because I recall a certain day long ago when my Mom was picking him up at his house for one thing or another and he came out to the car with his teeth a rather striking shade of purple, or some other equally bold color. He had discovered the markers that smell like fruit and decided to taste them. Though I am sure I outwardly acted as if he was an idiot for doing so, inwardly I wished that I could do the same because they did smell rather enticing. I have done my fair share of voluntarily tasting different substances in my youth, such as hand soap. I do not recommend anyone else try it. I am told that I once tasted bird droppings, though I do not recall doing so and do not wish to repeat that taste testing.

Having covered bold markers and taste testing quite thoroughly, it is now time to move on to another topic. In recent weeks my life has consisted of 13+ hour work days, 5 days a week, with weekends taken up moving or with more work related things. There have been some major changes, such as my old roommate getting out of the army and moving away, resulting in my moving into a new place with two new roommates, though one has yet to arrive. I do not handle change well, and with the constant demands at work, a lack of exercise/running, and dealing with moving into a new place, my outlook spiraled downward. My trip to San Diego and running the marathon proved to boost my mood for a couple days, but already the downward spiral has returned.

Running a marathon is something I never imagined I could accomplish until less than 5 months ago. Had my friend Lindsay not been the one to suggest it in the first place as a way for us to briefly hang out again after almost a year, I probably never would have run one. Now that I have run one and come to the conclusion that almost anyone can finish a marathon if they have enough determination, I think I want to run another one. Though my goal was just to finish and I told myself I wouldn't care about the time, I know that I can do better than my 5:02:10 if can manage to be more consistent in my training and also run a smarter race. Although my training this last time was sub-standard, it must have worked a little because my muscle and joint soreness was nowhere near the level I expected after the marathon, and today I was not sore at all. Were I not on BDE Staff Duty tonight I would have tried to go for a 2 mile jog this evening. Yes, it would have been very light and easy. Two nights ago I looked up post-marathon recovery information and today was the first day they listed as it being okay for me to do a light jog. Since I couldn't go for the run, I went for an 800m swim at lunch instead. I do not know if I will be able to run another marathon before I deploy due to 4 weeks of NTC in AUG/SEP messing up training time for another one. I will never be a fast runner, but I can always compete against myself.

The News Story

Tornado wreaks havoc in Killeen Posted on: Saturday, May 26, 2007 By Kevin M. Smith
Killeen Daily Herald

A small tornado made a brief touchdown in Killeen on Friday afternoon, terrorizing residents of an apartment complex and some houses on the eastern edge of town.

"We're the lucky ones – the Dumpster didn't land in our living room," Martina Herrera said.

Herrera's husband, Antonio, was sitting on the patio of their apartment a little after 5 p.m. Sunday when he saw the small tornado rip through the parking lot. Antonio rushed into his apartment, where his wife was making sandwiches and a friend was using the computer.

"It sounded like a train was going through our apartment," Martina said.

They huddled in the bathroom for about 30 seconds as the twister – about 300 feet from their building –

tossed dumpsters and other debris around the complex. It peeled off the top layer of several apartment building roofs, knocking down air conditioner units and moving cars.

Martina said they had no idea it was coming.

"We didn't get a warning here, and here it comes," she said.

Martina said the lights went out about a minute and a half before the tornado hit.

Then the Herreras had some options: sleep on the floor with no electricity in an empty apartment in their complex, stay at their current apartment with no electricity or go to the Killeen Community Center. They said they wanted to stay in their wet apartment to ensure there was no looting.

"We've been flooded and tornadoed in 24 hours," Martina said.

Martina's friend, Andrea Jacobs, is from California. This was her first tornado.

"It got quiet and it felt weird," said Jacobs, who has lived in Killeen about a year.

That's when Antonio rushed into the room to tell them there was a tornado.

Glenn Maddox was coming home in time to watch it rip the roof off his second-story apartment.

"I've been through a couple," Maddox said.

He was taking his family to Austin to stay with a friend for the weekend until electricity was restored.

The tornado was first reported at about 5:10 p.m. between the 700 and 1000 block of Twin Creek Drive in eastern Killeen. The twister went on a northwest track, uprooting trees, knocking down fences, tearing up portions of buildings, including a dry cleaner business on Rancier Avenue, before hitting the Allora Way apartment complex in the 4100 block of East Rancier Avenue. It skipped through Long Branch Park, causing minor damage.

"It just kind of bounced around," said Carroll Smith, Killeen Police Department spokesperson.

Smith said no injuries were reported.

"But there is quite a bit of damage to residences," she said.

According to the National Weather Service, the funnel cloud was spotted over Fort Hood, but as of press time no damage was reported on post.

A shelter for residents affected by the floods and tornado is at the Killeen Community Center, 2201 E. Veterans Memorial Blvd.

Graduation

Congratulations USMA Class of 2007!

Tornado

Yesterday there was a big thunderstorm here. In the evening Andrea and I drove over to Jordan's house to watch a movie and eat pizza.  It wasn't until then that we found out we both somehow managed to miss the tornado that hit our apartment complex.  I was taking a nap and Andrea was in the shower when it tore off the chimney and brick siding off of one of the other buildings in the complex, as well as caused other damage.  Neither of us had a clue there'd been a tornado until we saw the destruction.  

It's Official (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

MSNBC News Services

 

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has notified more than 35,000 soldiers and Marines to be prepared to deploy to Iraq beginning this fall, a move that would allow commanders to maintain the ongoing buildup of troops through the end of the year if needed.

 

The 10 brigades are: the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment in Germany; the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Ga.; the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.; the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment from Fort Hood, Texas; the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored from Germany; 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division from Fort Polk, La.; 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Hawaii; and the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, Texas.

 

Copied from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18553877/

 

Looks like I’ll be spending the next two Christmas seasons in Iraq.  15 months of fun, here I come. 

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

It Never Ends (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

I have not written very much recently because I don't have a lot to say.  When I sit down to think over my life I swing from depression about my current situation to reprimanding myself for not being grateful for the blessings and opportunities in my life.  When is the last time I really cared about something?  How long has it been since I've been either happy or sad?  I'm stuck in a middle ground of little emotion.  The faces of the people around me are tired and stressed.  People jumping through hoops to meet one demand upon another.  The workload never decreases; the day never ends; the weekend never comes.  Work 24/7/365.  Never enough time.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

Yay!

Congratulations Heidi and Kevin on your engagement! :)

Bored on FOB Raider

This evening marks the 1/3 of the way through point here on FOB Raider. There are two more weeks of fun left in this great field exercise. I am once again a fobit, save for when I go with my platoon on a patrol to the TUAS launch and recovery site during the day. The days are long, average at least 14-16 hours of work every day, but not jammed packed, which makes the days feel even longer. Life on the FOB is not too bad, just boring. I am trying to keep my platoon occupied with training on the Raider Big 10 and the 40 Warrior Tasks, but my soldiers would rather be flying and are rather bored most of the time with life here. We are not providing anything of value to BDE since our equipment has not returned and 3rd ACR , so instead my soldiers end up being tasked out to do details such as KP.

Adam just called. I haven't talked to him in awhile.

Heading to the Field

Tomorrow I head out to the field for three weeks.  I keep trying to tell myself that it's like going camping, but I have yet to convince myself.  Besides, I will most likely be spending most of my time in the brigade TOC trying to pretend like my platoon actually has equipment and is a useful asset for this training exercise.  Too bad we won't get any of our equipment back from reset until after we return from the field, so my soldiers and I who are stationed up in the TOC may be twiddling our thumbs for a bit while being yelled at for not providing any UAV coverage with the equipment we don't have.  The next few weeks should be an interesting experience to say the least. 

15 Months

15 month deployments are the new standard as of yesterday.  That's a long time to be deployed.   

 

Over there now:

Rachel

Charlie

Jordan

Phil

Ben

Brian

Austin

Dan

Leah

 

Headed over in the next few months:

Jim

Mike

Celio

 

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

 

Tired...

Be Thou At Peace

I found out today that another classmate, 1LT Phil Neel, '05, was killed in Iraq on 08 April 07.  I remember him most from the OCF Rocky Mountain High trip a few weeks after graduation.  He was a great guy. 

 

Well done; Be thou at peace.

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma2005/61896/

Too Much

Numb...

Hits Closer to Home

This evening I received a distro email update from the father one of my friends from West Point informing everyone that a few days ago my friend was out with her MP team and her team was hit by an IED (roadside bomb).  The IED killed four of her soldiers.  Even though I spent a year in Iraq and my brigade suffered losses like that at times, I didn't know any of the platoon leaders of the soldiers who died, and I didn't have a platoon of my own at the time.  What I am trying to say is that the news always hit me hard, but it wasn't as personal.  Now, I don't even want to think about what it would be like to lose one of my soldiers, let alone four.  Please pray for my friend Jordan and her platoon. 

The Ghostly Assemblage

On March 31st a third classmate joined the Ghostly Assemblage.

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma2005/62039/

Rest in peace
1LT Neale Shank '05.